Speakers
Mary Lukanuski
Mary's career journey began in academic and research librarianship before evolving into digital design. She has progressed through key roles as Producer, Information Architect, UX Designer, and Design Leader, collaborating with global teams on complex product portfolios across diverse industries.
Throughout her career, Mary has navigated rapidly changing technology and design tools while maintaining focus on fundamental questions that drive successful outcomes: Who are we building this for? What problem are we solving? How will we measure success?
Mary excels at translating complex user needs into clear design solutions, whether working on enterprise software, consumer applications, or emerging technology platforms.
This blend of practical design expertise, and leadership experience positions Mary to tackle challenging projects where user-centred design meets business objectives in today's fast-paced digital landscape.
Lunch table host day one
Join Mary for a conversation with peers on this hosted lunch table...
Hammer looking for a nail
Businesses want to add AI to everything. How are we responding to that request? Do we look into the problem to be solved first, and then determine if AI solves that problem?
Mary invites you to pull up a chair and join a frank conversation about managing stakeholder demands and supporting our teams to explore AI paradigms.
To join this lunch table please sign up at the registration desk.
About the talk
The value of design in an AI world
AI design tools are everywhere. Anyone can spin up a product interface. Vibe coding is championed and design systems are commodities. Meanwhile, executives are doing the math: why expand an already lean design team when PMs and engineers can apparently design products themselves?
We have options here. We can clutch our pearls, and fight the inevitable like modern-day Luddites. Or we can recognise this for what it is: an opportunity.
AI is democratising design—which means we can finally delegate the easier work. With the right guidance and guardrails, others can handle more of the production work that's consumed our bandwidth. This frees us up to focus on the harder, meatier problems that actually require our expertise.
This evolution requires new expectations. We need to redefine what our teams do and how we collaborate with our cross functional partners. This won’t be easy: not everyone will make this transition. Some colleagues won’t want to. Others won’t have the skills. Creative destruction is here, and it’s coming for our profession.
Yup, we signed up for this when we chose to work in technology. The industry evolves. We either evolve as well or get left behind.